2020 Subaru Forester Problems & Reliability — What 591 Owners Report

Known issues

Ranked by the cost of ignoring them. Every claim carries its source.

Thermal control valve (P26A3 / P2682) — covered 15 years / 150,000 miles

major

As on the 2019, the engine's thermal control valve (coolant bypass valve) can fail — owners report the temperature gauge flashing red, the engine overheating and stalling, and a tow home, with codes P26A3 or P2682. It's the most common serious complaint on the 2020. Subaru extended the valve's warranty to 15 years/150,000 miles for 2019–2021 Foresters and switched to a redesigned valve (stainless internal shaft, better sensor waterproofing). Ask whether the updated valve has been fitted; if the coolant system codes, the repair should be free under the extension.

What to check

Pink and cleanServiced. Proceed.

Dark brownDamage underway.

Thermal control valve under extension (15yr/150k)

Out-of-coverage valve replacement

a few hundred

Sources: NHTSA complaint database, 2020 Subaru Forester (true count 591) · NHTSA manufacturer communications + campaignNumber reconciliation (thermal-valve 15yr/150k extension; battery-drain extension; 22V485/24V227 Outback/Legacy-only)

Auto engine start/stop — stalling and restart failuresmoderate

The auto start/stop thread continues on the 2020: owners report the engine stalling at lights and stop signs and failing to restart cleanly when they lift off the brake, sometimes needing to shift to park and restart. Some overlap with thermal-valve failures; others are start/stop on its own. It reads as a driveability nuisance more than a covered defect. On the drive, work through several stop/start cycles in traffic and confirm the engine restarts every time — many owners disable the feature each trip.

Sources: NHTSA complaint database, 2020 Subaru Forester (true count 591)

Battery drain — covered by a class-action extensionminor

Some 2020 owners report the 12-volt battery going flat overnight or the car dead after sitting. Subaru's battery-drain class-action settlement extended 12-volt coverage for 2015–2020 vehicles, so the 2020 falls inside it. A history of dead batteries usually traces to parasitic drain rather than a bad battery — confirm the extension work was done and the drain fix applied, not just fresh batteries.

What does NOT apply — head gasket and the oil-consumption programminor

Neither the head-gasket meme (an older EJ-engine issue, not the FB25 here) nor the oil-consumption warranty program (2011–2015 engines only) applies to the 2020. A Subaru specialist channel raises the head-gasket/CVT rumor about this exact generation and debunks it. Buy on the thermal-valve status and a clean recall check, not those older stories.

Sources: Independent Subaru mechanic channel transcripts (gen5 buyers guide, head-gasket/CVT rumor debunk)

P2682 Engine overheating and engine gauge flashing red due to a recall related to the engine coolant bypass valve. The vehicle stopped and required a tow.

4 mechanic & owner sources

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Safety recalls

A verified zero — not an unchecked one. Here’s what that means.

No NHTSA safety recalls — verified July 11, 2026

Checked against NHTSA’s recall database on July 11, 2026. Any manufacturer Special Coverage programs for this year are listed under the issues above, not here.

How sure are we? Good, with a recall-verification caveat documented here. Based on 591 true NHTSA complaints (count field on the raw payload; productModel confirmed FORESTER). On recalls: the NHTSA recallsByVehicle endpoint returned a persistent empty body for 2020 Forester across repeated retries in this session, while the same endpoint returned live data immediately for the 2020 Outback (a passing positive control that the pipe was working). The model name was confirmed present in the 2020 recalls catalog enumeration, so the empty result is an intermittent data-edge blank, not a naming artifact. Reconciliation via the reliable campaignNumber endpoint confirmed the two candidate fifth-gen platform recalls of this era — the CVT chain-slip (22V485) and the occupant-sensor airbag (24V227) — list Outback and Legacy ONLY, never Forester; no other campaign in our pulls names the 2020 Forester, and an nhtsa.gov cross-check found no 2020-specific Forester campaign. Recorded as a verified zero (recallsVerifiedOn 2026-07-11); reconfirm via a direct-edge VIN check before relying on it. Complaint detail draws on the most recent filings; the 591 total is the true count.

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Before you buy

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01Confirm no open recalls by VIN at purchase — NHTSA data can lag, so a VIN check is the belt-and-suspenders step even in a light-recall year.
02Ask whether the thermal control valve was replaced with the updated part; if the coolant system codes, confirm 15yr/150k extension eligibility by VIN.
03Sit through several auto start/stop cycles in traffic and confirm the engine restarts cleanly every time.
04Ask about dead-battery history; the 2020 falls inside the 2015–2020 battery-drain extension, so confirm that work if present.
05Ignore the head-gasket and oil-consumption-program stories for this year — neither applies to a 2020 FB25.
06Ask for CVT fluid service history — the strongest longevity sign on any Subaru.

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A quieter second-year fifth-gen with no model-year recall we could confirm — the thermal control valve is still the thing to check, and it's covered to 15 years.

01Known issues